Hello, I am using the POD HD 500 only with amp (poweramp) for play with my band and can say you some experience.I have tried some drive stompboxes during the last year thinking that maybe will have better sound than the POD HD500 (the same cliche "v/s question": analoge or digital?). Honestly you can emulate 80% or 90% to the stompboxes, maybe somebody wih better ear and knowlege about HD500 can have results near to the 100%.

If you have the possibilty, take the stompbox and try to emulate the sound "hand to hand" and listen the differences. I tried to emulate with good results and with a friend listening then the results for have a more objetive opinion:

Boss: DS-1, MT-2, SD-1

Ibanez: TS-9

Vox: Bulldog, Satchurator

Tech 21: GT-2 (very but very close result)

Sure that I forget 2 or 3 (drives pedals). To my taste is not so difficult and not so different (with time and rigth setting).

I take something in consideration all the time when the people say: "the analoge always will be the best, is real"... I know/had real 100% valve amps and SS stompboxes that sound like sh$%&, other like heaven, but the same happend with the digital world. I say you this bucause the influence is too much when you want to buy something, and when you have "hand to hand" the things with a quality time for test, and try to emulate de sound, you can say: "yes are different, but not so much, and no so much for the 1000 dollars between them"

Remember try to connect to a poweramp or in the loop effect if you are using a virtual preamp from the HD500. Try this preset connecting the HD500 for the loop effect:

I have a new version of that preset and sound much better and real (because is very "hi fi" that old version). I will try to upload during this next week. Greetings and I hope that you will have the possibility to prove "hand to hand" the Pinnacle with the HD500.

Did you watch the video about the Pinnacle pedal? I just think it´s great, I was no judging the quality or "digitalness" of the POD HD 500, I just thought it could be a great combination with the HD to get a good Brown Sound.

When I make patches I also make my friends listen to them! Specially my guitar teacher!

I saw the video, the Pinnacle have a great tone and is a stompbox that have many people with GAS hehehe.

I think that if is the tone that you want will be an excellent idea (if you have the money and don´t mean forget the food for some days ) buy the Pinnacle. I was reading some months ago an experience from a profesional musician from Chile that play with a POD XT Live and a external stompbox for the drive sound , and some friends are usings PODs with an external drive stompbox too.

Maybe can be an excellent idea that if you have your tone from a specific stompbox (drive) continue using that (in this case prove) and the POD will give you other options (delays, reverbs, virtual preamps, cabsims, etc...).

Anyway, some years ago (maybe 5 or 6) when I was playing to a bar every weekend with a heavy metal band (something like Iron Maiden), I prefered don´t go with my amp and effects (for don´t take the risk of an unnecesary damage in my rig), and I used the cheap option: Sansamp GT-2 for the drive and the humble Zoom 505 II for the effects, and was really decent for the type of presentation. In this days is normal see guitarrist wih analog drive and multtieffect, a good example was the rig from Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) in 2007:

Finally I got my hands on the Wampler Pinnacle Pedal... I´m using it together with the POD HD 500, and I wanted to comment on the result...

The way I insert the pedal on my 4CM setting is this:

First of all the pedal sounds fantastic. It´s very brown soundish as it was meant to be, it has lots of tone controlling (volume, tone, contour, gain and vintage/modern switch), so you can get a wide variety of sounds.

I paid for this pedal 375 american dollars (considering international shipping and custom charges...), so it´s quite an expensive piece of gear, at least in my country... The HD 500 costs 795 american dollars around here...

The thing is that despite you can get a killer Van Halen tone from it, specially adding a screamer with the gain at zero in front (I tweaked a lot with the combination of the POD effects and the pedal), the HD 500 itself can REALLY deliver a similar tone. I have posted a few months ago this awesome mean street tone, based on meambobbo´s concepts and after a lot of experimentation: